WA premier lays down AFL Grand Final gambit

Perth's new $1.6 billion Optus Stadium has officially opened, with 110,000 free tickets snapped up for the community day.

Construction on the 60,000-seat stadium began in December 2014, but the footbridge providing key access to the venue is still not expected to be ready until May.The stadium has two 340 sqare metre super screens and the largest sports lighting system in the world, with 891 flood lights.

Former AFL player Shaun McManus, who has played at most large stadiums in Australia, said it was by far the best.

Premier Mark McGowan acknowledged previous Labor premiers Geoff Gallop and Alan Carpenter, as well as former Liberal premier Colin Barnett for their efforts.

Putting politics aside, Mr Barnett was even invited to join the premier and Sports Minister Mick Murray for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Mr McGowan told reporters the stadium showed West Australians were capable of anything.

"It's been a lot of blood, sweat and tears by a lot of people," he said.

In addition to the footbridge problem, the stadium has previously been shrouded in controversy about its name, location, cost and the beer available.

Last week, there was another controversy regarding a proposed cap on numbers for a potential Big Bash League cricket semi-final due to weekday peak-hour traffic putting a stress on public transport.

The Scorchers won their match on Saturday, which means they will host a semi-final at the stadium.

Mr McGowan said a cap was not ideal but the government was working through the public transport issues.

"We're working with the WACA and Venues Live, who are bringing to us options early in the coming week and we're very confident we'll have an answer on those questions during the course of the coming week," he said.

The premier said it was about finding a way to spread the crowd out over the day to avoid a bottle neck of people at the start of the match.

But he denied the debate had taken any shine off the community open day.

Mr McGowan even joked about the possibility of the AFL grand final being played at the stadium.

"It's the least that the rest of the country could do for Western Australia, considering the GST they take from our state, that they hand the AFL grand final to our state each and every year for nothing," he said.

"It would be a small compensation but it would be something."

Asked about the AFL adopting a system like the US Super Bowl, which rotates venues, the premier quipped: "Well we might get that here as well."

He added that he might mention the idea to President Donald Trump when he visited Washington